'15/16 Week 8 Day 5

We have spent a lot of time outdoors. Our driveway is being built, so we have been watching the work progress and helping when needed. Also, our garden started to bear fruit, like tomatoes, and vegetables, like cucumbers. 

School today was awesome. We caught up with the history class we had to postpone yesterday. I included a book about Thomas A Edison's life to our program. It has made Andrew's class a little longer, but he really enjoys hearing about a very mischievous boy who was called 'bad' by his teacher and ended up being homeschooled by his mother. He grew up to be such an important person in the States. What is more amazing, he never let his inability to hear stop him from working on inventions that required hearing.

Science. Andrew's favorite day is when we do the TOPS science experiments. Today, we explored the function of a switch in a circuit ...

... and tested what happens to the light bulb if we use alternative paths.

Art. This afternoon, we acquainted ourselves with the paintings of William Turner. As a lot of his works depict sunsets, the kids painted a simple sunset themselves. It also gave us an opportunity to talk about perspective.

Andrew got a little carried away with his mixing and painting experiments. But that is also a part of  the learning process. Both kids had fun working on their sunsets.

'15/16 Week 8 Day 4

Nothing spectacular happened today. Just another normal school day. I was happy to be done with all the classes before we had to leave for the choir practice. 

LA. Andrew and Saara reading each other their short paragraph about a potion they mixed, what it does and how it can help the world.

A page from Andrew's chimes notes. Instead of color coding like in the baby bells, Andrew now has to count the measures to follow the music.

'15/16 Week 8 Day 3

This morning, Andrew and Saara had front row seats to watching a truck dump a load of rocks on our drive way. It took a little time away from our studies, but it was all worth it. I believe, taking care of our neighbor's dog who limped into our yard at the same time was worth every minute as well. Compassion is something one can not learn from a school book. Thankfully, the pup is on the mend now.

Because of the events in the morning, we did not manage to read our history lessons, but everything else got done in time. Andrew and I (and Saara) even managed to squeeze a few experiments in in his science class.

LA. Sorting words into appropriate groups. This activity shows how well the kids recognize different parts of speech.

Science. Reviewing resistance in electrical wires. The thinner the wire, the more resistance, the brighter the glow.

As we had all hands on deck with this experiment, I could not take a photo, but it was amazing. We created tiny sparks. It was also a good time to reinforce the importance of safety around  any electrical device. 

Andrew's lesson today was about electromagnets and, of course, we had to build one.

'15/16 Week 8 Days 1 and 2

Our weekend was filled with parties and celebrations. It was kind of nice to have two quiet days of just plain schoolwork (and an exciting baseball game, and a intensive ballet class).

LA. In their writing class, the kids finished writing their instructions of how to do something.

Andy's simple instructions how to make your bed.

Baseball. One of Andy's favorite positions.

'15/16 Week 7 Day 5

We had classes only in the morning today. Before we left for the birthday party the kids were invited to this afternoon, we managed to go over a decent amount of school work, including reading. 

Science. In his TOPS science class, Andrew built a simple circuit.

He also had to explain the flow of electrons in the circuit.

'15/16 Week 7 Day 4

When Andrew started learning about the Civil War, I expected it to take a up a lot of our time. To my surprise, the introductory course he is taking right now did not dwell long on the subject. I was puzzled at first. Now, that we have been reading about the events, discoveries, inventions, etc. that happened after the war, I understand that the impact of the war, they way it changed the industries, the culture, the whole country, is so much more significant. 
Andrew has learned about how mail-order catalogs changed the rural life, or the huge department stores the city life, what role the war played in creating the ready-made clothing industry, etc. There are still many more chapters to read, but so far, the story of how America developed and changed after the war, is amazing.

History. Andrew learned today, how the sewing machine was invented, and how it changed the clothing industry in America. I showed Andrew how a sewing machine works and how a seam is created. 

'15/16 Week 7 Days 1, 2, and 3

The first two days of this week were rather eventless.  The children worked beautifully on their tasks and assignments. Math Test #3 went brilliantly for both of them. On Tuesday, Andrew played his heart out at his first official game this season. Saara loved her ballet class on Wednesday.

Thursday brought a change into our regular school day. We had lots of activities that went with the lessons we had been reading on Tuesday and Wednesday. Hopefully, the most memorable activity out of all of them was the homemade battery that Andrew built in his science class. Weak as the current was, the experiment worked.

LA. Review of all the parts of speech we have covered so far. The kids pulled words, named them, and made up a sentence to show they understood the function of the word.

In our writing class, we moved on to writing instructions. We started out by following instructions on how to make a paper flower. The truth is, the instructions in the workbook were lacking. But they served as a good example how not to write step-by-step instructions. 

As the workbook instructions for making a paper flower were not clear, we improvised and, filling in the gaps, constructed a perfectly pretty masterpiece.

Then it was time for the kids to jot down some 'how do I make this' instructions themselves.

Science. Saara has been learning about the nose and smelling things. She passed the smelling test with flying colors.

Using copper coins, foil, and soaked-in-the-salt-water paper towels, Andrew built a working battery. He could hear the current as a crackling in the headphones.

A nice end to a busy day. Andrew's team won tonight's game.